Battle of Pir Minginnial
The Battle of Pir Minginnial or Second Battle of the Ark was a crucial engagement during the Cûno-Inchoroi Wars, marking the resumption of hostilities between Nonmen and Inchoroi following the long truce of the Inoculation. It is accounted the bloodiest battle and must grievous defeat in Nonman history, notable for the sheer number of great heroes who perished during its course, most notably Cû’jara-Cinmoi himself. For this reason the engagement is simply called The Battle in many Nonman traditions. The battle also saw the first deployment of Chorae, Sranc, Bashrags and Wracu in combat. Prelude Following the devastating Battle of Pir Pahal, the Inchoroi were forced to retreat to the Incû-Holoinas and dwelt there under siege for many decades. Eventually they sent their envoy Nin’janjin, the Traitor-King of Viri, to sue for peace with Cû’jara-Cinmoi, High King of Siöl. Cû’jara-Cinmoi, who was nearing the end of his life, was amazed to see that his old foe had not aged a day since Pir Pahal, and learned that the Inchoroi had a way of defeating death. Overruling the advice of his counsellors, the High King agreed to a truce as long as the Inchoroi shared the secret of immortality with the Nonmen. For more than a century the Inchoroi moved amongst the Nonman Mansions, dispensing the Inoculation. Only one Nonman King, Sin’niroiha of Nihrimsul and Ishoriöl, rejected the treatment. The Nonmen indeed became immortal and deathless. But then the Womb Plague began, slaying every single Nonman female. When the deaths began, the Inchoroi physicians appeared to work tirelessly to save them, but Cû’jara-Cinmoi became suspicious when reports reached him of Inchoroi evacuating Eärwa, falling back to the Incû-Holoinas. The Nonmen realised the depth of their betrayal when it became clear that their female kin were dying in approximately the same order they received the Inoculation. With the death of Hanalinqû, his own beloved, Cû’jara-Cinmoi called for the total extermination of the Inchoroi and made alliance with all of the High Kings, even his hated nemesis Sin’niroiha. They assembled potentially the largest Nonman army in history - thirty thousand souls''The Unholy Consult'' - and marched on the Pit of Obscenities. Course of the Battle Cû’jara-Cinmoi deployed his army on the Inniür-Shigogli, the Black Furnace Plain immediately ringing Min-Uroikas and the Golden Horns of the Incû-Holoinas. He placed his wife's corpse before the unholy Ark (it is unclear in the Isûphiryas whether this was literal or figurative) and demanded that the Inchoroi answer his fury. In response the Inchoroi unleashed their creations: Sranc, Bashrags and Wracu in terrible numbers. The Nonmen were taken by surprise, believing that they would be fighting the much-reduced Inchoroi and perhaps a few traitor Nonmen, survivors of the first battle at Pir Pahal. They rallied swiftly, finding that the Sranc were easily dispatched by sinew and sorcery, the Bashrags by their finest Ishroi warriors and even the fearsome Wracu were checked by the most powerful Qûya. However, they had no answer for the Inchoroi and their spears of light. The Inchoroi floated above the battlefield, cloaked in the first Chorae (and thus rendered immune to Nonman sorcery) and sweeping the ground with their weapons, killing hundreds of Nonmen. Despite their dire predicament, the Nonmen rallied and slew many significant Inchoroi and their allies: Wutteät, the Father of Dragons and Vshikcrû, a powerful Inchoroi warrior were both killed, dismaying the foe (although Wutteät later re-emerged in history, suggesting a faulty record of events). Just when it seemed that the battle might turn, Nin'janjin slew Cû’jara-Cinmoi and beheaded him. The Copper Tree banner fell from the astonished grasp of the standard-bearer Mimotil (later called Cravenhearted for the loss of the banner)The Unholy Consult and fell into the hordes of teeming Sranc. The Nonmen almost broke, with the great heroes Gin’gûrima, Ingalira and Oirinas dying in short order, but Sin’niroiha was able to rally them and lead a fighting retreat into the Ring Mountains.Encyclopedic Glossary I & II, 'Cûno-Inchoroi Wars' Outcome The battle was accounted the greatest disaster in the history of Nonman civilisation, save for the Womb-Plague and Arkfall itself, but even so it fell far short of the complete victory the Inchoroi craved. Although their new weapons have performed well, they had fallen short of expectations and many of them had been destroyed: although the Sranc's prodigious breeding ability soon replenished their losses, the Bashrags and Wracu were harder to replace and the killed Inchoroi of course were irreplaceable. Although Cû’jara-Cinmoi and several significant Nonman heroes had been killed, they had also been replaced. Rather than the total rout the Inchoroi had expected, the Nonmen had withdrawn in good order (at least until they were out of danger) and remained capable of giving battle. Indeed, during the following five centuries the Inchoroi suffered numerous defeats, especially once their Tekne resources were exhausted and they lost the ability to create new weapons of light or weapon-races. The battle was the bloodiest fought on the Black Furnace Plain by Nonmen (although some hold that the later Battle of Isal’imial may have matched it), but it was later outclassed by several battles fought by men: the First Ordeal's First Investiture of Golgotterath ended in a great rout and slaughter. Greater still was the end of the Second Investiture, when the Consult were able to trigger the event known as Initiation, the summoning of the No-God and the utter annihilation of the besieging army of Sag-Marmau. References Category:Battle Category:War